The holiday is over and it’s back to reality. New posts are already in the works. In the meantime, just incase you missed them the first time around or just really really want to read them again, here’s a quick round-up of Expatorama’s top posts from 2017.

Ponte Tower – A Tale of Glamour, Garbage and Gritty Regeneration. I read about Ponte Tower before moving to South Africa and was intrigued – an unusual hollow cylindrical building with a checkered history. I didn’t realise you could visit the tower until early last year. The tour is fascinating and I highly recommend it if you’re in town (i.e. Johannesburg).

A is for the Armpit of the Earth: This would be an affectionate name for a really tough posting that will only be undertaken by the most badass of expats. It’s a term to describe the furthest flung, most chaotic, challenging and maddening places on the face of the planet. A is also for Airplanes and Airports, we often become overly familiar with these. Any glamour we previously associated with international travel will quickly lose its’ shine, especially if frequently travelling solo with young children. Continue reading →

There’s always a bit of a brouhaha when it comes to labelling or describing expat partners. A few of the titles used include Expat Spouse, Expat Wife, Trailing Spouse, Trailblazing Spouse, Lady of Leisure, Lady that Lunches, Guy that Golfs, Excess Baggage or as my husband endearingly calls me Expensive Habit. None of the terms is perfect and some are deeply loathed by the expat community.

So, I’ve come up with yet another alternative for you. It’s an analogy that first occurred to me when I wrote about the industrious dung beetle after we saw hundreds of them on safari. They are completely fascinating little creatures and the comparison between expat partners and dung beetles has been scratching about in the back of my mind ever since. Yes, I am comparing the Trailing Spouse to the Dung Beetle.

Sorry, I’m not quite done writing about the bush yet. Here we continue on our safari quest to spot the Big 5 (or in our case the Big 4).

Game Drive 2:

Guide: “What would you like to try to see today?”

Us: “A leopard please.”

We set off with high spirits, very much hoping to spot one.

En route to leopard territory our guide stopped and pointed out a curvy trail through the sand. “What do you think made this kind of trail kids?” she quizzed. I bit my tongue, desperate to shout out the correct answer. “Er, a rhino?” said one of the children. “Try again”, said the guide. I’m now bursting to shout out “it’s a snake track, ha ha, it’s so obvious, can’t you see it’s a snake shaped trail made by a snake. Easy peasy.”.

“Is it an elephant?” asked one of the children. “Doh” I thought to myself.

“Yes, that’s right, well done” said the guide. “The elephant sometimes drags its trunk along the ground leaving this kind of wavy mark”. I nodded enthusiastically as if I had known the answer all along and said nothing.